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CIE IGCSE English Literature Your notes

Songs of Ourselves Volume 1, Part 4

Contents
Funeral Blues

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Funeral Blues
Your notes
Funeral Blues
This revision guide for CIE IGCSE Literature in English will help you to understand W.H. Auden’s poem
‘Funeral Blues’ from the Songs of Ourselves, Volume 1, Part 4 anthology. It includes:
Overview: a breakdown of ‘Funeral Blues’ including its possible meanings and interpretations
Writer’s methods: an exploration of the poetic methods W.H. Auden has used
Understanding the text: an exploration of Auden’s ideas, themes and possible messages in ‘Funeral
Blues’

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Overview
Understanding a poem is key to success in the exam. This section includes: Your notes
The poem in a nutshell
A “translation” of the poem, section-by-section
A commentary of each of these sections, outlining Auden’s intention and message
'Funeral Blues' in a nutshell
‘Funeral Blues’ was written by W.H. Auden and was first published in 1938. The poem is an elegy that
attempts to encapsulate the immensity of grief and loss after someone has died. The poem is written from
the perspective of someone who is mourning and wants the world to mourn too.
'Funeral Blues' breakdown
Lines 1–4
“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.”
Translation
The speaker is asking for complete silence before the coffin of the deceased is brought out
Auden’s intention
The opening line commands a dramatic and immediate end to all normal activities, indicating the
profound sense of loss and the need for complete silence
The clock, which could symbolise the passage of time, is ordered to stop, and communication with the
outside world is severed by cutting off the telephone
The poet is expressing a desire to freeze time and shut out the external world, reflecting the intensity of
their grief
The command to “silence the pianos” suggests that the speaker wants all celebration and dancing to
end
The imagery in the first stanza creates a sense of stillness and isolation that highlights the magnitude of
the speaker’s loss and grief
The final line of the stanza reveals why the speaker wishes for the world to be silent:
They want utter respect for the deceased as their coffin is brought forward
Lines 5–8
“Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

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Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.”

Translation Your notes
The speaker wants people to take part in the mourning and for the funeral to be acknowledged by the
public
Auden’s intention
The first line of this stanza introduces a striking image of aeroplanes circling above and the use of the
word “moaning” associates the noise of the plane with death or dying:
The personification of the plane “moaning” could also suggest that the speaker will only accept
sombre sounds in relation to grief
The idea for the plane to scribble “on the sky the message He Is Dead” suggests that the speaker wants
the news of his loved one’s passing to be broadcast far and wide for everyone to know
The speaker wants his grief to be displayed in public and the use of the plurals “aeroplanes” and
“policemen” highlights how the speaker longs for collective acknowledgement of the loss:
The image of traffic policemen wearing black cotton gloves adds a touch of solemnity to the
scene
This stanza mentions two colours, “white” and “black” which are associated with mourning, grief and
death:
It could also suggest that the speaker is not able to recognise any colour other than those in
relation to mourning, or that all life and colour has drained from their experience
Lines 9–12
“He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.”
Translation
The speaker reflects on the deceased person’s role and importance in their life
Auden’s intention
The first line of this stanza uses a metaphor to suggest that the speaker has lost all sense of direction as
a result of their loss
The second line of the stanza further emphasises how the speaker’s life revolved entirely around the
presence of the deceased:
In the mundane routines of daily life such as the “working week”
And also in moments of relaxation and calm such as “Sunday rest”
The speaker continues to use metaphors to convey how important the deceased person was to them
and the use of the metaphor “my song” could link to earlier stanzas where the speaker is trying to
silence all noise:
Now that the speaker’s loved one has passed, no other sound or “song” compares
Lines 13–16
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“The stars are not wanted now: put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun, Your notes
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.”
Translation
The final stanza shows the profound extent of the speaker’s grief
Auden’s intention
This stanza begins with the speaker metaphorically suggesting that even the stars, which are often
associated with beauty, wonder and guidance, are irrelevant and unwelcome in the wake of their loss:
The command to “put out every one” implies a desire to extinguish all sources of light and hope,
emphasising the profound darkness and despair felt by the speaker
The second line continues the theme of extinguishing all symbols of light and life from the sky, which
highlights the true extent of the speaker’s grief and despair:
This stanza links to the previous stanza in which the speaker states that the deceased person was
their guiding light
Now that their loved one is gone, they are in total darkness
The command to “pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood” further illustrates the speaker’s
despair by using hyperbolic language to highlight the magnitude of their loss
The concluding line encapsulates the profound sense of hopelessness and despair that pervades the
poem:
The speaker believes that their world has been irreparably altered by the loss and they cannot
envision any possibility of happiness or goodness in the future

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Writer's methods
Although this section is organised into three separate sections – form, structure and language – it is always Your notes
best to move from what the poet is presenting (the techniques they use; the overall form of the poem; what
comes at the beginning, middle and end of a poem) to how and why they have made the choices they
have.
Focusing on the poet’s overarching ideas, rather than individual poetic techniques, will gain you far more
marks. Crucially, in the below sections, all analysis is arranged by theme, and includes Auden’s intentions
behind his choices in terms of:
Form
Structure
Language
Form
The poem ‘Funeral Blues’ is considered an elegy as it is lamenting the death of someone close to the
speaker. It is written in rhyming couplets and is generally in iambic pentameter.

Theme Evidence Poet’s intention

The poem follows an AABB rhyming pattern

The rhyming couplets create a regular rhythm
that could reflect the sombre and mournful
mood of the poem. The tight rhyming pattern
could juxtapose the magnitude of the speaker’s
grief and pain

Death
and grief
The general iambic pentameter could reflect the
slow walk of the funeral procession
The poet generally uses iambic pentameter
but there are some lines, such as line 1 and line
10, that do not follow the strict iambic metre
(one unstressed syllable followed by a However, the break in metre could reflect the
stressed syllable) grieving speaker’s struggle in containing their
emotions and grief

Structure
The poem is 16 lines long, and is divided into four quatrains.

Theme Evidence Poet’s intention

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The poem is divided into four

quatrains and each stanza The first stanza sets the tone of the poem by silencing
explores a different facet of the everyday noises to prepare for the coffin and to stop time Your notes
speaker’s grief entirely by stopping “all the clocks”

In the second stanza, the speaker orders the public to

mourn with him in his grief

Death and Then the speaker attempts to illustrate the love they had for
grief the deceased person in the third stanza using metaphors

Finally, in the fourth stanza, the speaker wants to put out all
the light in the world as they do not see a future without their
loved one

The repetition of the word “my” moves the focus of the

There is repetition of the word
poem from a desire for public mourning to one that is more
“my” in stanza 3, which is a
personal. The repetition emphasises the depth of the
technique called anaphora
speaker’s love for the deceased person

The end-stopped lines create the effect that each line is on

The stanzas are almost entirely
its own and isolated. This mirrors the speaker's feelings of
Isolation constructed of end-stopped
isolation and loneliness as they feel cut off from the world
lines
due to their grief

Language
The speaker uses a number of language techniques to encapsulate their grief and sense of loss.

Theme Evidence Poet’s intention

Isolation The speaker uses a number of The poet has done this to highlight how isolated the speaker
imperatives, such as “stop”, feels in their grief. The command to “stop all the clocks” and
“prevent” and “silence”, to “cut off the telephone” suggests that the speaker wants the
demand that people stop and join world to stop moving on and functioning, just as they are
them in their grieving unable to move on without their loved one

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Your notes
In stanza three, the speaker uses
hyperbolic language to illustrate
The poet does this to highlight the depth of the speaker’s
the depth of his love and, as a
love and reliance on the person who has died. As a result of
result, the magnitude of his loss
their death, the speaker is now alone with no sense of
direction

The poet does this to highlight how the speaker’s world has
ended now that their loved one has passed
In the final stanza, the speaker
Death
shows a desire for the things that
and
bring light and sustenance to be
grief The sun, moon and stars symbolise light and are all linked to
packed away and “put out”
romance and love. The speaker’s desire to “pack up” and “put
out” these objects signifies the sense of finality in his loss and
grief

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Understanding the text

The questions in the IGCSE exams encourage you to write an informed, personal response, which means Your notes
that you need to develop a solid understanding of the themes, main ideas, settings and events depicted.
While the IGCSE does not explicitly assess context, an awareness of background information in relation to
the main themes can help you develop a sustained and critical understanding of the text. Therefore, this
section has been divided into two main themes that Auden explores in ‘Funeral Blues’:
Death and grief
Isolation

Exam Tip
Do not just write factual information about W.H. Auden or any historical information that is not related
to the ideas in the poem and the key words in the question. While it is important that you have some
background information to show a deep awareness of attitudes and ideas, you have to make sure you
link this information to the themes in the poem that are relevant to the focus of the question.

Death and grief

‘Funeral Blues’ was first published in an anthology in 1938 and since its publication, it has become one
of the most well-known poems to explore grief and loss
The poem’s rhythmic structure and imagery illustrate the speaker’s profound sense of loss and
devastation over the death of their loved one:
The poem highlights the speaker’s desire to retreat from everyone but also their desire to make the
rest of society mourn with them
The opening stanza sets the tone for the rest of the poem and begins to convey the massive sense of
loss and grief that the speaker is feeling through their desire to create a feeling of stillness and silence
Their desire to “stop all the clocks” indicates the speaker’s desire to stop time from moving altogether:
It could suggest that the speaker no longer has any comprehension of time as their loved one has
passed away
The second stanza is the speaker’s attempt at making the public partake in the grief by wearing “black
cotton gloves” and “crepe bows”:
The speaker wants the world to know of their grief by writing a “message” declaring that “He Is
Dead”
The third stanza then talks of the deceased person’s role in the speaker’s life and uses metaphors to
explain the level of reliance the speaker had on them:
It is evident that the speaker’s life revolved around their loved one and they have now lost their
purpose and sense of direction
It is evident that in the final stanza the speaker’s grief has not dissipated but rather is at its peak as they
cannot see any point in having a future without their loved one:
The use of phrases such as “put out”, “pack up”, “pour away” and “sweep up” emphasises the
speaker’s desire to extinguish all the light and goodness in the world as “nothing now can ever
come to any good”
Isolation

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The theme of isolation is evident throughout the poem as the speaker tries to comprehend the
magnitude of their loss and their devastation
In the first stanza, the speaker’s desire for the world to stop reflects their sense of frustration as they Your notes
feel they are alone in their grief and that the rest of the world is indifferent:
The phrase “let the mourners come” reflects the speaker’s desire to see other people grieving and
could suggest their desire to end their loneliness and isolation
The speaker makes hyperbolic statements and uses imperatives to try to bring the rest of the world into
their grief
The poem could highlight how the death of a loved one is not only emotionally devastating but isolating
for the one who is mourning:
The poem suggests that grief has the ability to remove the grieving person away from the rest of
society, who are continuing to function
The statement “cut off the telephone” could reflect this
The poem also conveys how grief is so painful, and that life cannot continue for the one who is
mourning

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